ralston



April 22, 1924. 1,491,064

H. c. RALISTON Wm: DRAWING APPARATUS Filed Dec. a 19 2 I 1.5 Sheets-Sheet 1" N fizvezttor: ffirezzv 6. 54457-0,

Illnesses 1,491,064 Hkc. RALsToN was DRAWING APPARATUS Filed Dec. 8. 1922 a sheets-sneer 17weni0r: {4 J if #4240 C f zaro l,

: 1,491,064 H. c.. RALSTON WIRE DRAWING MPARATUS April 22, 4'

File De 1922 3 Sheet-l-Shet :5

7 ing drawings.

Patented .Apr. '22, 1 9242 1,491,064 year OFFl-CE.

HARLEY C. RALSTON, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TQ THE AMERICAN STEEL AND WIRE COMPANY OF NEW JERSEY A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

wmn-nnawme hernias-res.

Application filed December I, 1922.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that'I, HARLEY G'. RALSTON, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Inf 'rovements' in' Wire-Drawing which the following is a length or tension :of the wire between succes'sive drafts.

' Another object; is to provide a novel wire. drawing block having the construction, de-

sign and combination of parts hereinafter described and'illustrated in the accompany- In the drawin' Figure 1 is a typical side elevation of a wire fra'me or draw n bench havingja drawingblock construe e in acco'z dance with this. invention mounted thereon. a p v I Figure 2 is a sectional elevation through i one of the drawinghlocks of Figure 1. l

I line III-J11 of Figure 2.

Figure 3 is asimilar view taken on the -Referring more particularly to. the drawings" the numeral 2 designates a wire drawing bench or frame asa whole, on which are mounted 'a series of drawing-block's A,

B,1C and D, and a series of die blocks E, F,'Gf and H. The drawing blocks A; B

and C are of novel compensating design, while the block D is of the usual standard s indles "3 i which extend downwardly through the bench 2 and carry bevel gears fibearings Tom the bench 2. The gears l are. normally in driving enga ement wlth the shafts or spindles 3 thr'oug clutches 8,

lint when it isdesirable or necessary to interm t the operation of any one of. the

"drawing blocks thegears 4 may rendered or take-up design. The die blocks 1 v and H are of standard and Well- -known design. t y "Each of the drawing blocks is keyed-or otherwise secured on vertical shafts or 45 Serial No. 605,808.

inoperative by disengaging the respective clutch 8 from the gear 4 by depressin the foot pedal lever 9 which operates the c utch 8 through lever 10, which is pivoted intermediate its ends on a bracket 11 and has a sliding connection 12 with the upper half 13 of the clutch.

The clutches 8 may be of any desired design, although a standard friction clutch is preferred and'is shown in the drawing.

The drawing blocks A, B and G are of novel compensating design and comprise a drum portion 14 which is he ed to the shafts or spindles 3 and provi ed with an upper lip or flange 15 to prevent the wir slipping on over the upper edge.

The drum 14 is provided with a centrall arranged apertu-re'in its upper wall for t ereceptionof a nut16, through which a vertical shaft 17 passes into the interior of the drum. v

A friction disc 18 is mounted on the inside of the bottom wallof the drum and secured thereto by dowel pins 19. A housing 20 is loosely mounted on the squared lower end 21 of t e shaft 17, and a second friction disc 22 issecured to the housing 20 by dowel pins 23 and bears against the disc 18.

A spider member 24 is splined on theshaft 17 above the housing 20, and guide rods25 aremounted in the spider 24 and housing 20 to guidendform mountings for compression springs 26 which are ten sioned to normally forcethe housing 20 and disc 22- against the disc18. uThe-tension of so as to vary the position of the spider 24, 7 thereby compressing the springs-26 or allowing them to extend, depending on whether on the shaft.

so the "s rings 26 is adapted to be adjusted by a just ng the nut 16 on the shaft 17 the nut is moved dewnwardlv or upwardly From "the above it will lie-readily seen I that the friction discs 18 and 22 form a ieldable drive for the shaft 17 ,which will 190 ave a" tendency to always rotate the shaft 17 with the drum 14.

A compensator arm 27, havin a sleeve. portion28 mounted on and keye or otherwise secured to the shaft 17 is provided with 106 I guide sheaves 29 and .30 adapted to: receive and guide thewire from'the' drum ortion, I

14:. The guide sheave 29 is journale on the outer end of an arm extension 31 which is angularly ofi'set with -i'elation to the vefii- 110 cal axis of the arm. QT and is transversely inclined so that its horizontal axis is inclined downwardly with respect to the horizontal axis of the drum, in a direction away from the drum, whereby the sheave 2}) is inclined downwardly away from the drum and projects beyond the same.

The sheave is jonrnaled in bearings 33 in the arm 27 above the sheave 29 and on a line with the. vertical axis of the arm, and is of such size that its grooved periphery extends over and on a line with the central axis of the shaft 17.

A hearing pin 34 is disposed vertically in a sleeve 35 on the upper end of the arm 27, and a bracket 36 is journaled thereon together with a hall thrust bearing 37 so as to provide for a free swivelinp movement of the bracket. The pin 34 is provided with a central aperture 38 which alines with a second aperture 39 in the bracket 36 to form a wire conduit or guideway. The bracket 36 is provided with outwardly extendin arms 40 between'which is mounted a third guide sheave 41. which has its periphery in alinement with the renter line of the apertures 38 and 239. v

Suitable retaining pins 42- are mounted adjacent or close to the periphery of. earh of the sheaves 2th 30 and 41, respectively, to prevent the wire leaving the sheaves when slack.

"lhe Wire is adapted to be trained from the drum [-1- around the sheavr- 29 in a clockwise di'rertion. then over the inside of sheave 30, through the npvrluros 39 and 39, and over the sheave 4L A fourth sheave 44 is jmil'nulvfl on l'tzt'li of the die blocks l" (i and ll and the wire.

from the prixredin; draw blork adapted to be trained down under tlu- HlIvuVt' -l-l and thence passed through the div.

Throperation oi this apparatus. assuming that the wire is being: pulled through the die lilovk ll hr the draw block is as follows:---'.lln s wire is draw-u through the die blo -lt I), sci-oral turns are taken around the drum portion of draw block A. and it is then passed around the sheave- 29. under sheave 3). through apertures 38 and 39 in the pin 34 and brat-hot 36. respevtivrly. over sheave 11, and then down under sheave 44 on the die block I and through the die block F to the next- (lraw block B. The wire is then SI .IC(.'(Ef-'Si\'t'l)' passed onto the draw blork lirough die .blork i. onto draw block ough the. die block ll in the same as described above, and from the die block H the wire is wrapped upon the st ndgird take-hp block I). he wire in the process of drawing is "reduced in area and consequently increased 4 in length as dis drawn through each surre isive die block. 'llwri-lorv earh sum-es sire draw block isxdri'ven at a siirotssivoly higher speed so that their peripheral speeds win no in properratio to the increased length of wire. l'lowever, due to causes beyond control, such as the wear of either causes the wire to break or to become loose on the preceding drum.

The present ii'ivention-with its compensating aru s 27 provides for eliminating this variation in tension. The wire in passing from the drum portion ll of the block onto thesheave 52'.) ot thecompensating; arm pulls on the sheave in" a counter-clockwise direc tion. while the drum portion is rotating and tending to re ate the compensating arm in a clockwise direction. The pull of the wire on the sheave 29-, due to the fact that the. sheave is mounted on the armextensions 31 serves to pull or rotate the arm 27 in a coouter-clockwise direetioi'i. However, due to the friction drive between the drum ii and arm Q'hii the dies are each reducing the wire the theoretically correct amount, the pull of the wire. on the sheave 29 and the friction drive will counterbalance each other, and the CODEPQUSlllZlIlg arms will remain stationary or in neutral position. It will be ol'is'ions however that, in practice the redurtion in the dies will vary and consequently the tension between the dies and lJlOi'liS will vary. If the tension between a die and the preceding die bl'ork becomes greater than normal the compensating: arm on the draw block will be rotated in a counter-clockwise direction relative to the drum portion 14. thus unw ppin sufiicient wire from the drum to i c-ve y tension and if the tension becomes s nk or less than normal the compensating arm will rotate with the drum portion I4 a suilicient amount to wrap wire upon the drulu and again Establish the normal tLllSlQll.

The. sheaves 41 due to the bracket 36 living swiveled on the pin 31H.- always remain in a plane parallel with the sheaves 44; and the die hloolis so as to deliver the wire to these parts.

If for any reason the amount of wire on the drum portion of any ofthe draw blocks becomes less than desired the succeeding block may he tcrn 'iorarily slowed down by ri-nderinp the rlutch"8 'for that-block inoperative by applying! pressure to the foot treadlc 9, thus decreasing the relative demand for wire and allowing the first named block to build up its supply.

In a similar Inannen if the amount of wire on any draw block increases to its full working capacity. it may be slowed down momentarily by operating its cluteh 8ai1d thus increase the elative demandfot i no wire by the succeediirig drew block, thus re ducing the amount of the first named block,

While I have shown and described only one s )ecific embodiment of my invention it will e understood that I do not wish to be limited thereto, since various modifications and substitutions or equivalents may be made without de artin rom the scope of mvinvention as efine in the appended claims.

I clsirn:--

1. A wire drav ".ng block for use in continuously drawing wire comprising n drum 'ortion. means for positively. rotating said rum portion, a. vertically disposed compem eating arm mounted axially on said drum and rotatable relative thereto, a pair of guide sheaves mounted on said arm and movable therewith, the lower one of said sheaves bein tical axis 0 said arm and hevin axis slightly inclined from the vertice so to take Wire tangentially from the drum pcrtion, a third sheave mounted on the upper end of said am and rotatable relative tl'ier ito, friction drive mechanism between said drum portion and said arm tending to non mally cause said arm to rotate with said drum portion, the wire being adapted to pass from saididrum angular y positioned sheave, d second and third sheaves to the next p ding die, the tension of the wire on said lowermost sheave overcoming the power of" said friction drive member when the tension on the wire exceeds a pre--- determined maximum;

2. In apparatus for continuously drawing wire, a series of dies, a series of wire draw, ing blocks alternately arranged with respect to said dies, 11. compensating erm mounted for rotary movement on cash of said blocks, said compensating arm comprisinga cens tral shaft mounted axially on the block and having a air of guide sheaves mounted. thereon and movable therewith, one of sold offset with relation to the verd ortion over said low said arm, t

said bloclr, the wire being adapted to be taken from said blocks and passed over said a sheaves in passing to the succeeding d1, ind tension of the wire on said ofl'setsheave being adapted to rotate said arm relative to the block when the wire tension exceeds a predetermined amount.

3. A wire drawing block for use in continuously drawing Wire, comprising a. drum portion, means for positively rotating said drum portion, a vertically disposed cornpensating arm mounted axially on said and rotatable relative thereto, a pluof guide sheaves mounted on said spaced vertical relation, the lower one of saidsheeves being fixed to said arm and offset with relation to the vertical axis of said arm and having its axis slightly inclined from the vertical so as to take wire tangentially from the drum portion, the upper one of said sheaves being mounted on the upper end of said arm and rotatable relative thereto, friction drive mechanism between said drum portion andsaid arm, tendingr to normally cause said arm to rotate with said drum portion, the wire being adapted to pass from said drum portion over said lowermost and angularly positioned guide sheave on said oompenseting'arm and over "said upper guide sheave when leevin e tension of the wire on sai lowermost sheave overcoming the power of said friction drive member when the tension on the wire exceeds a predetermined mexi mum.

set my hand.

HARLEY o. RALSTON. 

